Test Driving the Kinvara 4

My Local Running Store is great. They sponsor group runs three days a week (that end up at a bar after the run). They host at least 3 races a year. And they constantly have shoe companies coming by to let us run in their shoes.

A few weeks ago they had a free sock giveaway (from Brooks) where I landed these babies.

Last night, Saucony dropped by again. You may recall I won a free pair of Kinvara 3's last year. Now they were pushing the new Kinvara 4's, as well as the Guides. So I got to try the 4's, run my Tuesday workout in them, and keep from adding 6 miles to my own shoe's odometer. The Saucony guy was a stud. I overheard that he ran a 3:42. No, not a marathon. A 1500 meter! And his girlfriend was there, and she looked like an olympic class runner too, at least by the -2% body fat on her. Damn. Sorry no photo.

This Saucony rep was more straight forward than the pure sales type that was here last year. I asked him if the K3 was lasting longer than the K2, as was pitched to me last year. He just scoffed and said no. I asked why they switched from the K3 to the K4 so quickly. he said the whole line was changing from the PureGrid to the PowerGrid sole, or something like that, and that the K4 was virtually the same as the K3. Then he said he would be seeing prototypes of the K5 next week, due out next Spring. What a racket.

Anyway, I tried the Kinvara 4 in Neon yellow, and they felt just like my K3s. Then went out for a run. I've been running mostly in trail shoes or my heavier Cortanas lately, so it felt good to have the Kinvaras back on. So inevitably I started going faster than I expected. I felt surprisingly good after my 21 mile slogfest on Saturday. Two days off and I'm golden! So when I started mile 2 and saw the pace under 8, I decided to just roll with it. Settled in about 7:45 pace and felt great!

By mile 3 I was tiring a little, but felt good about the pace. I cut the 7 mile course down a little to make it 6 miles and decided to make the middle 4 a tempo. Ended up averaging 7:38 for those 4, with the last one at 7:23! Best speed run I have had since Boston! So I'm going to have to give a thumbs up review to the Kinvara 4!

Afterward there was a raffle, but I failed to score another free pair. Thank God, because the rest of the group may have lynched me if I did. I did get a cute little keychain with a mini-Kinvara on it.

I only wish they had lowered the heel collar on the 4 which is the reason I didn't fall in love with the 3's. Right now I'm loving the Saucony Virrata... 0 drop and also very speedy. BTW, you are looking pretty handsome in your Marshall green

Based on that review, maybe I will just get a discounted pair of 3s. Have been using them on most of my speed days and having great success. Need to be replaced soon though.Glad you had a good tempo run there. Nice to bounce back from a slugfest!

I had to put my Kinvaras aside for a bit when I was preggo (not enough support for those extra, ehem, FEW pounds) ... but I'm happy to get them going in the rotation again. But considering I have 4 pair now, hubs may shun me if I go out and buy the K4.

It does sound like you recovered pretty nicely from Saturday's epic training. Wonder if there ever was a person at a running shoe company who has said "let's not update those shoes this year - it's not like the changes make a real difference"? And managed to keep their job.

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